Committee authorizes special balloting for early renewal and expansion of Downtown Community Benefit District

The Land Use and Transportation Committee authorized a special assessment balloting procedure to renew and expand the Downtown Community Benefit District, a management district overseen by the Downtown SF Partnership, and forwarded the amended resolution to the full Board with a positive recommendation (3–0).

Supervisor Danny Sauter, who introduced the item at the Board on April 28, told the committee the requested action would authorize a special balloting procedure so that ballots may be mailed to all property owners; he emphasized that this committee action would not itself renew the district. Sauter said the tentative ballot mailing date is 06/06/2026, opening a 45‑day ballot window, and that the ballot period would close at the Committee of the Whole on 07/21/2026 when ballots would be tabulated.

Jackie Hazelwood, community benefit district program director at the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), reviewed the three‑step renewal process required by state law: (1) meeting a petition threshold representing 30% of the proposed assessment, (2) a Department of Elections–administered ballot process, and (3) a final public hearing before the Board. Hazelwood said the Downtown CBD surpassed the 30% petition threshold in April and described a clerical correction to the petition packet (the term was incorrectly listed in one place as ending 06/30/2035 and was corrected to 06/30/2036); according to Hazelwood, the city attorney advised sending corrective notices by email and mail to affected property owners, which the CBD did on April 24 (email) and April 27 (hard copy).

Hazelwood summarized the proposed renewal and expansion: the district term would run 10 years (January 2027–December 2036); the district footprint would expand from roughly 43 blocks to about 70 blocks and encompass 840 parcels across three service zones (financial district/Jackson Square; Embarcadero; port frontage). She said the initial assessment budget is about $11,000,000 and the total district budget about $11,300,000. Hazelwood described service expansions including increased sidewalk sweeping, pressure washing (weekly on Market Street), expanded ambassador hours, new economic development services funded by assessment dollars (business attraction and ground‑floor recruitment), and a proposed park overlay tied to a substantial Embarcadero Park redesign. The park overlay budget was stated as $2,500,000 and would not be enacted until the park renovation is complete and an agreement with Recreation and Parks is reached.

Public commenters representing the Downtown SF Partnership and private property owners — including Ravi Silver (president and CEO of the Downtown SF Partnership), Dan Kingsley (board member), and Chris Friess (Redco Development; renewal committee chair) — spoke in support of the early renewal, citing downtown recovery needs, low foot traffic compared with pre‑pandemic levels, reduced city budgets for economic development, and the need for expanded cleaning, ambassador coverage, and activation services.

Supervisor Sauter offered two technical amendments inserting the Committee of the Whole hearing date (07/21/2026) in the resolution. Chair Melgar moved to adopt the amendments and forward the amended resolution to the full Board with a positive recommendation; the clerk recorded Vice Chair Chen, Member Mahmood, and Chair Melgar voting "aye" and the motion passed.

Next steps: if the special balloting proceeds as planned, ballots will be mailed tentatively on 06/06/2026, the ballot period will close on 07/21/2026 at the Committee of the Whole, and if a majority of ballots received are in support, the Board may renew the CBD; services under a renewed district would commence on 01/01/2027.